Smokey Bear to Celebrate Birthday on Friday

PENFIELD – The Moshannon State Forest will use the release of Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue to start the celebration of Smokey Bear’s 70th birthday.

The characters in the movie’s storyline are active in fighting wildfires. While this is very entertaining to moviegoers, there is a lot of educating about wildfires that is occurring as well. This fits right in with Smokey’s career in wildfire prevention.

In recent years, wildfires have been a regular part of the daily news, and folks have gotten used to seeing the aircrafts that are some of the tools used to fight those fires.

The lack of much-needed rain in a large portion of the western United States has not only caused a water shortage for the citizens, but has made conditions ripe for wildfires to occur.

With these conditions likely to continue into the future, this film can encourage viewers to make efforts to prevent wildfires.

This message of wildfire prevention has been the focus of Smokey Bear for 70 years. For that reason, Smokey will be participating in the opening night of this film at two local theaters.

He will put in appearances at the Rowland Theater in Philipsburg and the Super 322 Drive-in Theater in Clearfield on Friday.

His appearance will include displays, hand-outs and best of all, the chance to share a piece of his birthday cake. This will occur prior to show time and Smokey will be departing shortly after the film starts.

The public is invited to come and take part in both of these events. Folks, young and not-so-young, will enjoy meeting the famous symbol of wildfire prevention, as well as being entertained by the next installment in Disney’s series of movies featuring cars and planes as the stars.